Atelophobia
by tomorrow-today
Summary: "Be involved in everything without anyone knowing you're involved in anything." That's what Teruki told him. But right now, standing in front of this giant door in a world not his own, Ritsu was unsure. What he was sure of was that he couldn't fail, jitters be damned. / Teruki has a job for Ritsu. Atelophobia: The fear of imperfection or not being good enough.
1. Sophophobia - Fear of Knowledge

**With the new season of Mob-Psycho 100 coming out I figured that it was the perfect time to start writing this fanfiction since people will be more aware of its existence and look for fanfiction in it.**

**Few things you need to know-**

**1\. This will have manga spoilers that will appear in season 2 and in season 3 because I'm certain that they won't put the big fight with Claw in season 2 based on the season 2 trailer.**

**2\. This story takes place right after season 1 and you'll be able to tell easily from the first few paragraphs**

**3\. Two characters are aged up in this along with the people who are also their age like Mob to Teruki. So Ritsu is 14 going on 15 and about to enter high school. Mob is 15 going on 16 and about to enter his 2nd year of high school**

* * *

**My Hero Academia © Kohei Horikoshi**

**Mob-Psycho 100 © ONE**

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Sophophobia - Fear of Knowledge or Learning

* * *

Everything was fine. For once in a _long _time, everything was fine.

It was one of those days with the perfect weather. You know those ones where the skies are blue and perfectly placed clouds are sprinkled across it with just enough wind blowing to keep the temperature perfect?

Soft footsteps padded along the gray concrete of the sidewalk. There was no set destination that the owner had in mind, he just needed to clear his head. So here he was, walking along the mostly unpopulated part of the city, with no one in sight.

Ritsu Kageyama felt great, he really did, but he couldn't shake this feeling of discontent. It had been a week since he had been captured and the 7th division had been destroyed and he was glad to have the burden of not being able to connect with his brother lifted away from him. But it was promptly replaced with another one.

Back when they were fighting Claw's 7th division he felt so useless. He couldn't do _anything _well..that's not entirely true. He was able to create a plan for him and the other kids from the awakening lab to escape from their cell and he made a plan to break out of the cursed room that kept him, Hanazawa, and Shigeo (who was only in there because of his weakness) from using their powers.

_'But it was completely useless when Reigen-san came in and dealt with it...' _Ritsu thought begrudgingly as he kicked a nearby pebble forward.

Then, when it came to the big fight, he was able to do _nothing_. All he could do was shout and beg Shigeo to help him and that he was their only hope. Not only was he utterly hopeless he put_ so much_ pressure on his brother and he absolutely hated making him feel so overwhelmed. He could feel his insecurity coming off in waves and then the sudden murderous intent that soon followed was just too much.

_'But luckily Reigen came in and fixed everything! ...Again'._ This time Ritsu found an empty soda can and chucked it as far as he could. It rolled and rolled until it went down a set of steps that led somewhere unknown. Ritsu lightly jogged toward it so he could kick it this time but as he got closer he was soon distracted by what was down those steps.

A big beach was placed in front of him. Filled with trash as far as the eye could see and the soda can had rolled far enough to join the masses of garbage. There was no beach in Seasoning City, well none like this one. How had he even gotten here?

He continued to carry himself forward and along the messy shore of the beach. It seemed as though there was another entrance to the beach and if you looked toward it you could see what seemed to be a _huge _city bustling with people not too far in the distance. Despite this, people didn't seem to care for the beach and it was left unpopulated.

His thoughts came to a stop when he heard faint voices in the distance. He carefully trotted closer to the direction the noise was coming from and saw to figures standing in the distance. A tall silhouette of a big man and a shorter one of a scrawny boy probably around his age. The tall man seemed to be talking to the scrawny boy with a wide smile that he could only see due to all the sunlight reflecting off his teeth.

Ritsu moved closer forward and found a tall fridge (one of many) to hide behind. It was incredibly rude to eavesdrop, he knew, but he would do anything to distract from what he was thinking about earlier. With his better viewpoint, he could finally see both figures in more detail.

The tall one was tanned and _incredibly_ muscular, with blond hair and bangs that stuck upwards in opposite directions. He wore a dark blue short-sleeved shirt and black track pants with white threading running along its sides. His face was deeply shadowed and his smile was somehow even _brighter _than it was before.

The scrawny boy was much easier to look at. He sported a light blue tracksuit with the same type of white threading as the tall man's and had a lighter complexion. His hair was deep green and freckles decorated his red face.

Ritsu tried to minimize the amount of sound he was making and focus on what they were conversing about. He heard bits and pieces of their conversation along the lines of, "We start your training...", "Musutafu's messiest beach..." and, "UA will be able to help you with this power..."

So he was all the way in Musutafu? How did he get so far away without even noticing? What's a UA? And what power? It didn't -shouldn't- really matter though and he decided to not bother himself with any more questions. He looked up to see that the sun was beginning to set and he need to get back home soon. Pushing himself away from the fridge, Ritsu started his walk back to Seasoning City with the goal of getting home swiftly but along the whole walk back, he still couldn't shake all the new questions that entered his head.

At least he stopped thinking about the fight for a while.

* * *

By the time that Ritsu got home, it was dark out and the lamppost lights were being turned on. He had expected to get home earlier but he had a lot of trouble finding a way back due to him not paying attention to how he got to Musutafu in the first place and his phone was dead.

As quietly as possible, he pushed his front door open aware of the fact that all the lights in the house were off. He took the lightest steps he could and tip-toed to his room. Upon turning on the lights, he had a mini heart attack. Shigeo was sitting in the middle of his room staring at him with that same blank look he always had. Realization seemed to hit him quickly enough though because his eyes widened and he got up to walk to his little brother.

"Ritsu,"

"Nii-san," Ritsu, although it may not look like it on the outside, was already bracing himself for whatever Shigeo was going to tell him and that he was upset with him.

But none of that happened.

Instead, shaking arms were wrapped around his torso and he was pulled into a firm hug. He could feel his brother shaking against him and could tell he was trying to hold back tears as he spoke.

"I was worried that something was wrong. You took longer to get home today but-", his voice cracked, "I...I'm glad you're okay."

That last part. It was the same thing he said last week when they were locked in that cursed room. He always said this. How could he be so forgiving? Overcome with an abrupt flurry of emotions Ritsu couldn't properly wrap his head around the situation, so he didn't. Instead, he did the same thing he did a week ago; He hugged his brother back and cried.

Cried for all the things he put his brother through. Cried for his arrogance. Cried for his helplessness. Cried for his struggle. He just cried.

* * *

It was Sunday. A time to relax and be lazy and Ritsu swore he wouldn't waste his time. He would be using this day to study rather than relax.

Everyone was out today. His parents went to some charity event that a friend was holding and Shigeo was at work and wouldn't be back in like two hours or so. With this vacancy, he would have the solitude needed to study without getting called by his parents and getting questioned by Shigeo. It was just him, the internet, and his trusty notebook for the next two hours.

Now, don't get it wrong. He wasn't going to sit down and study algebra on a perfect Sunday, he was going to do more research on that UA thing that those people were talking about. When the search engine pulled up he quickly typed "_Musutafu UA powers"_ and pressed "enter".

_About 57,400 results (0.41 seconds)*_

He wanted to hit himself upside the head...with a brick. What kind of search was that?! It was so _vague_ and made him sound like an idiot. And there were so many results! _About_ 57,400?! There could be more?

Scrolling through the results he realized that they all had something in common; "U.A." or "U.A. High" was plastered on every link, so it was probably a school most likely. Willing himself to not turn off the computer and sleep for the rest of the day, Ritsu went back to the top of the page and clicked on the result with the most views.

_"U.A. High School is an academy where students learn and train to become heroes. U.A. is the #1 ranked high school for heroics and is considered as the top Hero Academy in Japan."**_

"Heroes...?" Ritsu mumbled as his eyes flew over the page. There were all these terms and names that he was completely unfamiliar with. It seemed that in his search to understand he ended up becoming even more confused. His fingers flew over the keys as he typed in:

_"Heroes"_

_News Leak! Endeavor's son is enrolling to..._

_All Might's Hero Debut! Free on..._

_All Might Rumored to be Teaching at U.A. High next..._

'What the fork' was all Ritsu could think of at that moment. The page was flooded with news reports and rumors centered around people with the weirdest names. Some of the more recent articles talked about some person named "All Might" taking up a teaching position at that same U.A. High place.

Another thing that also popped up a lot was "quirk". If he thought all the articles about U.A. was too much then the ones about quirky "heroes" were about that but tenfold. What was the deal? Do they just really like quirky people? He was confused so, obviously, he had to search it up as well.

_"Quirks"_

Well, sh*t.

He stared at the computer screen numbly while the screen glared back at him with the number of results from his Moogle search.

_About 567,800 results (0.06 seconds)_

So you take a fork, bring it to your eyes, and then just sta- Ritsu (not for the first time today) fought off the urge to go and chuck the computer as far as he could out the window. He dragged his eyes away from the search results and looked at the first few link titles.

_Top 10 Best Hero Quirks Officially Rated!_

_I don't know if it's just me, but does anyone else notice that All Might seems weaker than before? Like there's some sort of government conspiracy..._

_The History of Quirks and How They Changed the World..._

He scrolled through the page while mumbling to himself and although the second one was insanely weird, the third one got his at this attention. Unlike most things that were "world-changing" this link said how they _changed_ the world and with him being in accelerated language arts he knew that you should always take in context clues and the importance of word tense.

So he clicked it.

_Quirks. Almost everyone on Earth has them, only about 20% of the population is excluded. They first appeared about 300 years ago with the very first person to have one was a baby who was born glowing. Soon, these quirks began popping up all over the world._

_But. What **are** quirks? Well, quirks are sup-_

He was on the ground.

It all happened so quickly.

His foot got tangled without him noticing

He went to lean back in his chair.

And soon he was falling down.

A groan escaped his mouth and he let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding. Picking himself off the ground, he propped the chair upright and went to sit back down. But as he was getting ready to type he noticed something on the ground. An unplugged cord.

The computer turned off.

He tried not to scream and for the first time today he failed.

_'Sup?'_

Sup-what? What does that mean?! What was it going to say?! Supper? Supreme? Supplement? Super?

He was_ so close_. If he were of age, he would say he needed a drink. But for now, he would settle with a glass of water and sleep.

As he drifted into unconsciousness, he tiredly decided that he would continue his research tomorrow.

But he didn't.

With school and exams coming up he couldn't be bothered to focus on that stuff. He had grades to keep up and teachers to impress. So, eventually...

He forgot.

* * *

*** That was actually what it read when I searched up the same exact words.**

****Actual text from the fan wiki**

**This Chapter was gonna be longer but as I was typing I decided to cut it at this point and put what I was typing in the next chapter. I wanna get a feel of the few people who will be reading this at first and then hopefully that will push me to finish another (hopefully longer) chapter. Sorry for any grammar/spelling mistakes**.

**_Follow, Review, Favorite and I'll help you clean your local beach._**


	2. Basophobia - Fear of Falling

**I was being lazy over the summer and didn't want to wrap it up and edit this.**

**But hey! 5000+ words!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own MHA/BNHA or MP100**

* * *

Basophobia - Fear of Falling

Paper crumpled beneath his trembling hand. Eyes focused on the big bold words that were placed front and center. Forgotten Moogle searches flooded back to the forefront of his mind.

Ritsu was walking home from school on a new kind of high. The results for exams had finally come in and he passed with flying colors but that wasn't what got him excited. He got _the top score! _Beating out Kayuya, his irritating classmate with an irritating smirk who always managed to score just one point above him for every test they took! Yes, things were certainly looking up.

Then he got smacked in the face with a lurid flyer and a bad feeling found a home within his stomach.

_**"UA SPORTS FESTIVAL!**_

_Come out to UA High this Friday see the annual competition!_

_See students..."_

Forgetting things is a given for anyone when exams pop up. But Ritsu wasn't anyone. He was VP of the student council, he was a straight-A student, an overachiever who people just liked too much to call a teacher's pet, and he simply _didn't _forget things. But he forgot this.

_'4 months,' _A frown formed on his face as he glowered at nothing in particular.

About 120 days had passed since he had done research on this UA place and he just forgot it! It shouldn't be bothering him this much especially since he didn't even mind until he found out about it again but it did. He had to keep focused. He had to keep himself from forgetting again. With that thought in mind, he quickened his pace and headed home; determined to continue his research.

* * *

_'Oh my God,'_

Feet pounded against the concrete surface of the sidewalk, quick and shallow breaths could be heard among them. It had only been about 2 hours since he had first come home and the sun was getting ready to set but he didn't think he could sleep soundly until he was one hundred percent sure of this.

_'This couldn't really be true could it?!'_

He ran along the shore of a messy but significantly less messy beach (which he learned was called Dagobah Municipal Beach Park) compared to last time. Sounds of struggle and grunts could be heard to his left but he didn't bother paying attention. Although if he had he might have noticed the eventual lack of noise and the two sets of eyes following him as he ran along the beach they were cleaning up.

His eyes found the city entrance to the beach and he basically flew to it and up the steps. What he saw at the top was simply astounding. People with the weirdest mutations were walking down the street and nobody seemed to care! There was a guy with a cactus for a head, a green person, an oversized animal walking on two feet while typing on his phone (with _opposable thumbs!_).

It took Ritsu a lot to keep from hyperventilating at the absurdness of it all.

Hands digging into his pockets, he reached for his phone. Once he whipped it out, he began frantically taking pictures. Capturing the outline of the city and the few things that could see from where he was.

Then he just stood there. Time seemed to still as this unexplainable urge flowed through him, begging him to actually enter the city. And so, with shaking limbs and slippery palms, he took a hesitant first step into the city of Musutafu.

* * *

The first thing Ritsu noticed upon stepping into the city was how _bright _it was despite the sun already starting to dip below the horizon. Seasoning City wasn't the most colorful place but this was just insane.

Bold and lurid colors surrounded him as he wandered through the city. Although not being someone who read them, it felt as though he was pushed into a comic book. His eyes scanned the tall buildings and marveled at how different the architecture was here compared to back home. It was all so significantly unique.

It begged a question though. How could he have not noticed this all before? If the appearance of quirks had such a huge impact on the world, why was he just learning about it now? Wouldn't somebody have mentioned it? Wouldn't he have seen at least _something _familiar?

Ritsu was so busy woolgathering that he ended up knocking into someone which caused him to fall to the ground. He could hear the painful groan of the person he bumped into as it seemed that they also fell. Ritsu's manners slowly returned to him and he got up at an alarming speed to apologize profusely to the stranger.

"I'm so sor-!"

But he was cut off when the person looked up to reveal dilated blue eyes. Hastily struggling to pull themselves up, the person got off the ground rested both of their hands on Ritsu's shoulders in an attempt to gain balance. Once they had accomplished this, their eyes bore into Ritsu's.

"What are _you_ doing here?"

* * *

The sound of deep fryers filled the air around Teruki. He bit into a crisp french fry as the crunch of it between his teeth filled the otherwise silent booth with noise. Ritsu glared daggers at him as he sat across from him at the table.

"Do you care to explain," Ritsu hissed as he vainly tried to remove all the little twigs and leaf debris from his hair, "what in the _world _is going on here?"

Teruki wasn't sure whether or not he should respond. When he bumped into Ritsu earlier, he was both relieved and concerned and before he gave Ritsu an actual chance to respond to his question he took off running while dragging him along. They maneuvered through the city, managing to have Ritsu get hit by every tree, twig, and piece of shrubbery before arriving at a MobDonalds rip-off called MightDonalds that he had gotten to know during his time here.

Ritsu continued to stare at him, unabashed, as he awaited the response he rightfully deserved. Teruki eyed the restaurant and its patrons before somewhat relaxing.

"Something big is going on."

"Yeah," Ritsu barked, "Care to elaborate?"

Teruki sighed before continuing, "If you must know Brother-kun, we aren't actually in Musutafu."

"I may not be familiar with this place but I know how to read signs," Ritsu paused, "And don't call me that."

"I won't call you 'that' and no, you don't get it. I mean we aren't in _our _Musutafu."

Ritsu gave him a deadpan stare and raised a single brow.

"Recently, I've been noticing a few oddities around Seasoning City. Random things not where they usually are and other random things being where they shouldn't. So I kept my eye open and realized that they're _vanishing. _All over the place! Disappearing and reappearing and with all of this mayhem there was certainly no way that I could just ignore it." Teruki seemed to be in a completely different place as he spoke but unlike him, Ritsu had yet to care as he showed no signs of interest.

"You dragged me through the entire city, with no explanation, just to tell me about what's most likely a spirit?" Ritsu eyes narrowed with disapproval as he continued with his tirade, "Now, Hanazawa-san, I know your not a _complete_ idiot so can you _please _cut to the chase."

Teruki ignored the teen's blatant rudeness and he proceeded as though Ritsu had never interrupted him in the first place. "I found out that they were portals," This got Ritsu's attention. "Unless you know what to look for they're practically invisible and they give off no signs of spiritual activity, mind you. They come and go, some stay for mere seconds and others for weeks. Although some can tend to stick around even longer but I can't be completely sure on that."

Teruki received a look of confusion. Of course, that was to be expected; even he was still unsure of the nature of the port-

"Why was l able to search it up then?"

"Excuse me?" Teruki was withdrawn from his thoughts and looked at Ritsu, baffled.

"My computer," Ritsu elaborated, "I was able to search about heroes and the works through it earlier today as well as four months ago," He turned to look at the dark sky through the window and backtracked, "You know what? Forget it. It's already late and if I don't head home now I'm dead. We can deal with this later, or better yet never again."

With that Ritsu left him alone in a MobDonalds ripoff.

It took Teruki little time to realize that he was...well, he was Teruki and he had a way of getting people to see his way.

* * *

"What?" Ritsu bit out as he removed his forearm from Hanazawa's grip.

"You were able to search this place up on your computer?"

"Yeah," replied Ritsu, looking at the blond warily.

"Come to my place," Hanazawa abruptly exclaimed.

Ritsu scoffed. He had to be completely insane if truly expected him to follow him to his place when it was already late out and now, because of this conversation, he was surely going to be dead once he got home.

It wasn't hard to think of what to say next.

"Like Hel-"

* * *

He was falling through the sky.

It was 10:13 pm on a school night, tomorrow he had to be up early, and he was falling through the _forking _sky.

He was definitely dead once he got home.

Ritsu didn't know how but somehow Hanazawa had convinced him to come to his apartment. Though, deep down, he knew what made him crack.

_"Please, I could really use your help."_

Despite how it may seem, Ritsu loved to help people. That's why he joined the student council, it's why he decided to take up an after-school tutoring job, helping people gave Ristu a rush. It was an unorthodox way for him to connect with Shigeo. He wondered if what he felt when seeing the relieved smiles of people he helped was the same thing that Shigeo felt when helped people with their spirit dilemmas. If he felt as happy as he did.

Helping Hanzawa brought no happiness to him.

The moment he agreed to help he was dragged back into MightDonalds and straight into the bathroom.

_"What in the world are we doing in here?"_

_"You'll see."_

Hanazawa let go of his wrist then walked ahead of him and into the third stall down. By the time Ritsu caught up he was only able to see the rest of Hanazawa's blond hair go straight down the toilet. It didn't take long for things to click.

With his lips forming a harsh line, Ritsu looked around the dirty stall in disgust. Carved messages and love hearts were that written in permanent marker littered the walls that were a dull red color compared to how it probably was when they were first painted. The toilet looked too gross for him to even think about touching with his bare hands.

But there was a saving grace.

Toilet seat covers were mounted into one of the stall walls. He grabbed three of them and placed them onto the toilet seat, mindful of his hands, then stood atop of them.

Looking down into the (thankfully) clear water of the toilet bowl, he proceeded to place his right foot in first. The first thing he noticed was that the portal was under the water and not above it. His body has to go through about a centimeter of water before actually reaching the portal. The second thing he noticed was that once his foot actually went through the portal wind started hitting it. Confused but too done with everything to care anymore, he removed his left foot from the toilet seat and jumped into the toilet.

Now he was here. Free falling. If his phone wasn't completely waterlogged it would be dead, Hanazawa was nowhere to be seen, and he was drenched from head to toe. The ground grew closer and closer and his system was pumped with adrenaline.

He was scared. Immensely so. Profusions of wind blew onto his wet body making him as cold as ever and his mind was racing. How could he stop himself? He could use his psychic powers but that was easier said than done.

He was still new to this. He didn't have an ease of control with his powers like Shigeo. All the times in which he previously used them other people were there to support him. But he didn't have them now. What he had now was an adrenaline high body and fear. Could he even do this?

_SMACK!_

His cheek was red. He looked to his left too fast and got whiplash but that was promptly ignored when he realized it was Hanazawa that had slapped him. He was going down alongside Ritsu but instead of falling helplessly Hanazawa's power held onto his body and there was no chance that he would smack himself against the pavement like Ritsu.

"Hanazawa-san! Thank Kami you're here, I need you to hel-!"

Hanazawa was already steps ahead of him and grabbed onto Ritsu with his powers. That had stopped them going down and they now were floating about four stories above the ground.

Ritsu was washed with relief and looked to Hanazawa. He had a reassuring smile on his face that let Ritsu know that he was okay. They made direct eye contact and Ritsu realized that he should probably thank the blond.

"Thank yo-"

"I'm not going to help you,"

"What?" Ritsu responded as confusion marred his face and creased his brows.

Hanazawa's eyes became less friendly and unease crawled up Ritsu's spine.

"I'm going to let you go. With no intention of helping you. You're on your own Brother-kun,"

Before Ritsu could shout at Hanazawa and call him completely asinine he was released from his hold and went back to falling helplessly.

Why? Why wasn't he helping him? Why was he doing this? Why, why, why? He looked up to see the blond looking directly at him was passive eyes as the ground got closer to him.

So this is how he died. Plummeting to the ground (which he realized had poop on it) with someone he almost thought he could trust watching him with uncaring eyes.

...What a jackass.

What a complete and utter jackass. Ritsu didn't care anymore. He didn't _have _to care. If he was going to die we was going to let it all out. He as going to-

"Brother-kun!" Hanazawa was floating down next to him again, "What in the _world _are you doing?"

"What in the world am I doing?" Ritsu snarled, "What in the world am _I _doing?!"

"Catch yourself!"

He was going to choke him. If Ritsu was going to die, he was going to choke Hanazawa before he went out. He reached over for the older boy's shoulder and once he had a grip on it with one hand, he wrapped his other around the boy's throat.

"Catch myself?! You _idiot!_" He was now using both of his hands, "Who do you think you are?" The fact that he wasn't actually choking Hanazawa due to the skin-tight shield he had around his body filled Ritsu with rage.

While he was busy failing to strangle the blond, Hanazawa had the audacity to smile at him. Smile!

"I hate you _so _much!" With that declaration, Ritsu felt perfectly fine with splattering into the pavement and dying.

But he didn't.

In fact, he should have been dead long before now but he wasn't. He was floating mere inches above the feces that was on the ground. His own power, and no one else's held him up above there.

"Congratulations Brother-kun, you've just used telekinesis on yourself while in a life-threatening situation," Hanazawa's smile grew, "Although, it would help to be able to do it at will but you take what you can."

Ritsu stared at Hanazawa, mouth agape. He didn't have anything that he could think of saying to the maniac, so he laughed. He laughed and laughed and once they were both on the poop-free ground with their barriers down he punched Hanazawa square in the jaw.

A loud crack echoed through the silent streets and Ritsu never felt better.

* * *

He found himself staring at the entrance to Hanazawa's apartment. The portal left them about a block away from the apartment complex and they walked all the way to Hanazawa's place in his now damp clothing and Hanazawa's dislocated jaw.

With a click of the door handle Apt. 528 was open. Hanazawa was the first to walk in and he crouched down to take off his neon green shoes and threw his keys onto the counter before walking to his bedroom and gesturing for Ritsu to follow him.

Not bothering to take off his shoes, Ritsu headed in the direction Hanazawa left and into the blond's room. Inside he found him hunched over his computer.

"Hey Rother-kun?"

"What?" Ritsu bit out as he tried and failed to hide his anger from earlier. The obvious amusement that slid into the blond's face didn't help much.

"Whad exacdly did you tipe on your compudur thad lead you to all that information about Mushuda-"

"Musutafu UA powers, all three at the same time, Heroes, and then quirks," He didn't have the patience to wait for Hanazawa and his out-of-order jaw to finish one question.

While Hanazawa typed away Ritsu begrudgingly waited.

He was wondering how his family was holding up. His phone was broken beyond repair like he guessed and he had no idea what the time was. Would Shigeo be okay? All he wanted to do right now was hightail it out of the apartment, head home as quickly as possible, and apologize to them as best as he could but he simply couldn't get himself to. Curiosity had a strong hold on his ankles.

The sudden halt of typing of computer keys snapped Ritsu out of his daze. He looked over to see Hanazawa going through some sort of loop. He would type something, briefly scan the page, clear the search bar, and type something new as he grew more frustrated after every unfruitful search.

Finally, with a thud, Hanazawa slammed his hands down and turned toward him.

"Noding showed up."

"What?"

"About hewoes or quiwks or anyding of thad kind," Hanazawa's eyes narrowed and his attention drifted off somewhere else, "So how wer you able to search id up?" He mumbled to himself.

"What if," Ritsu spoke, gaining Hanazawa's attention, "What if one of the portals intercepts the network that provides my internet?"

"You know, that acdually makes compwete sense. You're ondo someding," He then gave Ritsu a quick once-over, "Alscho, why're you..._dahmp_? "

"Let's see," Ritsu snarled, "Maybe I'm "_damp" _because out of all the options _you_ took us through an actual _toilet portal!_"

Hanazawa let out a soft grunt, "You do have a poind Rother-kun, but why didn'd you jusd use a skin barrier 'ike I did?"

His voice was becoming increasingly annoying.

Ritsu smiled. A sick, sick smile, and walked up to the teen. He looked directly into his eyes and placed his hands over his dislocated jaw. Let it be known now that he had no prior experience relocating joints so when he went to go and relocate Hanazawa's it was a long and painful process. Just how he liked it.

"Ow! Owowow!" Hanazawa glared at him.

Ritsu gave him a sweet smile in return.

"You know what? Forget it," Hanazawa rubbed his sore jaw, "Give me your number."

"Why?"

"I already told you, something big is going on and all I know is that I need your help."

Ritsu body shifted toward the blond a little more. "You need my help? Why not just ask Shige-nii? I'm sure he can help you more than I could." His voice came out in as a low mumble and Hanazawa strained himself to hear.

"Ask Kageyama-kun?" Even though Ritsu wasn't looking at him he could hear the smile in Hanazawa's voice, "Why of course not! Why get him? He's had enough to deal with, besides, you're the only one who _can _help me. I need _you _simple as that. What I need doesn't simply require pure strength, it requires a well-rounded mind and we both know that Kageyama-kun doesn't exactly meet those requirements."

He didn't know if he should be offended for his brother all Ritsu really knew was that he was truly needed. That left him surprised and somewhat skeptical.

"What's in it for me?"

Hanazawa brought his hand to his chin him a long faux thinking gesture before he grinned at the teen. "You're fairly new to this esper thing, right? I'll train you and you'll help me. Just give me your number so I can contact you; I'm _this _close to finding out exactly what's going on."

"Well, I really can't receive any calls at the moment," Ritsu droned while reaching into his pocket and pulling out his dripping phone. He frowned at its sad state and barely registered that the water was being siphoned out of it courtesy of Hanazawa's powers. Once all the water was removed his phone flickered to life before turning back off due to a dead battery.

Ritsu gave Hanazawa one last mildly shocked look before slowly making his way out the door of the apartment. On his way out, he simply says, "100 5829 2684, try not to call me when it's late."

And with that, he was gone.

Hanazawa let out a snort before turning out the lights for bedtime. It didn't matter whether or not Ritsu asked him for something in return. What he had in mind for the middle schooler needed Hanazawa to train him regardless.

"Kids."

* * *

"Where in the world were you?!"

Mrs. Kageyama was not a happy camper.

It was 11:53, she had work in the morning, and now she had to deal with this. Let's get it straight, she didn't consider herself a strict parent. With 15 years of experience, she understood that all this weird mind magic could tend to be unpredictable and get out of hand but still! Did she ask for much? Her only request was that her boys be home by 10:00 and if not just call, but after 12 unanswered calls meant for Ritsu she was scared. Deeply so. Only for her to find out that he was out eating (she could faintly smell the grease on him mixed with some other gross scent) Kami knows where!

"I was worried sick! You couldn't send a text? You couldn't answer your phone even once? Why take so long just to get food at some greasy establishment when you could've eaten here?"

She knew that bombarding him with questions wasn't the best approach but she just wanted to know what he was thinking throughout this.

Her son stood there. Actively making sure not to look her directly in the eyes. His posture was somewhat slouched but he didn't seem too surprised by this rant of hers.

She was prepared to continue on but felt a slight weight on her shoulder. Her husband was standing right next to her as he gave her a soft look.

"You have work early in the morning, let me deal with this."

With a sigh, she turned away from both her husband and son and headed upstairs. He was a much gentler soul in comparison to her and she knew that he would be able to filter out unnecessary questions he might have and get to the point. She gave them one last look and headed to bed.

* * *

"Just because you have powers doesn't mean you're invincible,"

He knew that. He knew that so much.

"And it also doesn't mean that we don't worry about you."

It was just him and his dad. They had moved from the front door to the kitchen after his mom had headed to bed.

His dad sat there with a cup of noncaffinated coffee and Ritsu sat there with a small plate of tofu that doubled as a small luxury and as something he could stress eat.

The good thing about his father is that when something new happens he'll never press you for answers, he just wants you to listen and Ritsu would gladly have that then having his noticeably tired mother be down here asking him rapid-fire questions as she messed up her sleep schedule even more which would ruin her morning.

"Now, let it be known," his father paused to take a sip of his coffee, "Let it be known that I trust your judgment so I'll let you head on up to bed and not bother you with questions. But-" an edge came into his voice as he stood up to put away his now empty cup, "only this time. If it happens again- well, who knows? We'll see _if _we see. Goodnight Ritsu."

And with that, his dad headed upstairs and Ritsu sat there alone with his almost empty plate of tofu.

He stood up, put his plate away, and started the dishwasher but didn't head to bed. Not yet. His aura detection skills had naturally gotten a bit better on its own so he waited until the sound of the soft padding of feet became louder and louder and then, halted.

In front of him stood his brother. Standing at 157 centimeters Shigeo was only shorter than him by a bit. His pale skin contrasted greatly with the dark eye bags that he adorned but the dried tears that stained his cheeks were harder to notice. Ritsu mentally winced.

"Are you okay Ritsu?" Shigeo's voice was quiet but scratchy, signs of him either overusing or underusing his vocal cords. "Your um..." He visibly struggled to search for what he was going to say next, "Ah, your aura was going all over the place. Very quickly and very suddenly, strong sometimes and weak others. Maybe about 3 times...or was it two? My memory seems to be a bit all over the place, I'm sorry."*

Even, half asleep and groggy, his older brother never lost his temper with him despite Ritsu knowing that he had every right to be upset.

"I'm perfectly fine Shige-nii, and _I'm_ sorry for keeping you up this late." Ritsu went and grabbed one of the few clean cups remaining and filled it with some milk, "Here take this, and head to sleep." He walked toward Shigeo and placed the glass into his hands.

His brother barely gave the milk a glance before looking Ritsu straight into his eyes. It was times like these when Ritsu truly felt like a little brother, with Shigeo checking in on him and worrying about his health instead of the other way around. He had Ritsu's utmost attention.

"I can't just...go to sleep Ritsu. You had everyone so worried, you had me worried." Recently, Shigeo had been making a noticeable effort to let others know exactly how he felt instead of bottling it up, and it felt nice for Ritsu to hear how he felt, "You can't just go out who knows where without telling anybody and come back late like it's fine. I know this is only the second time you've done this and the last time was a while ago but, It makes me feel...It makes me feel really sad? Is that the right word? It doesn't make me feel nice and I can't focus." His eyes watered just a bit and he brought up his hands to wipe them before tears could fall, "You had me crying last time too and now here I am doing it again. I'm so sorry Ritsu, I'm still trying to get used to expressing my emotions in an appropriate way. I just want you to be safe and now I'm just rambling."

The nice feeling Ritsu felt quickly went away and a stone dropped in his chest. Regardless, he walked up to his brother and tightly wrapped his arms around him to quell his worries. "You don't need to apologize," His voice was muffled by Shigeo's hair, "From now on, I'll let you all know when I'm heading out somewhere unplanned, okay?"

"Okay."

"Good, It's getting really late so go and head off to bed,"

The two separated and Shigeo quickly downed the glass of milk that he still had in his hands before looking at Ritsu with a small and sleepy smile. "You do know that I'm older than you right? So from going to be taking care of you." His voice dipped a bit and his body was beginning to shut down.

"Yes, yes Shige-nii," Ritsu took the empty glass from his brother's hand and placed it on the counter, "But sleep before you pass out."

Letting out a soft hum, Shigeo turned on his heel and silently headed back up the stairs.

Ritsu smiled just slightly knowing that things ended on a good note as he trailed slightly behind him. What Hanazawa told him about vanishing objects and portals was interesting but not worth making his family worried. He could easily tell his brother about it without too much explanation but something in him just didn't want to. It felt nice. Nice being the one needed, the _only_ option instead of the second or third or last. It was a first and he couldn't get himself to confess.

Too lost in his thoughts, giddiness, and greed, Ritsu hadn't noticed that his brother had toppled to the floor before he reached the top step, completely knocked out, until he almost tripped on his body.

Though he paused momentary out of shock, Ritsu took it all in stride, picked his brother off of the floor and toward his bedroom.

It was quite symbolic. Merely seconds before, Shigeo was multiple steps ahead of Ritsu who he covered in his shadow and now he was on the ground. Letting the light hit the fourteen-year-old and leaving him as the only one to be able to get both of them into bed out of his own power.

Or maybe he was overthinking it.

Shigeo would wake the next morning to a throbbing headache. Along with it, a glass of water and an aspirin pill placed on the ground next to his futon by his dear younger brother.

* * *

"Did you talk to him?"

"Yeah."

"They worry me so much sometimes. I just want to make sure that they're alright."

Mr. Kageyama let out a soft hum as he leaned over and kissed his wife's forehead.

"Don't worry, they will be."

Mrs. Kageyama snuggled a little bit closer to her husband and his calming aura.

"I suppose you're right, goodnight."

"Goodnight"

* * *

Bad night.

With a student council meeting calling him to school an hour earlier than usual which meant he had to get ready an hour earlier than _that_ and only 3 hours of slipping in and out of sleep last night Ritsu was quite cranky. He was still sleepy and jumpier than usual. His voice came out clipped and snappy and he constantly had to fight off the sleep that threatened to take over during class. So when he received a call during his lunch which he planned to use for catching up with his sleep his patience was dangling by a thread.

"_What?_" He bit out, not bothering with pleasantries. He didn't check the caller ID either so for all he knew he could be badmouthing his mother (a thought that caused a shiver to trail in the back of his mind).

_"Caught you at a bad time?"_

Knowing that it was not his mother relieved him but the light-hearted voice on the other end quickly replaced that relief with even more annoyance than before.

"What is it Hanazawa?"

"No_ 'san'_ at the end there? I don't know whether to be flattered that you consider me close enough to drop the title or insulted at the lack of respect. Although you obviously mean the later, I'll take it as the former."

"I don't care what you take it as just get on with it," He didn't have the time for the blond's unnecessary chatter and wanted to head to sleep as soon as possible.

"Okay, okay," A light chuckle came from the other end but when he spoke next it came out a lot more serious, "I told you that I was close to finding out exactly what was going on, right?"

Ritsu let out an uninterested grunt.

"Well, I finally did. It has to do with Claw."

The rest of the phone call would leave Ritsu with only 8 minutes to sleep.

* * *

*** This is because Ritsu was going through portals**

**Hey guys. It's 10:54 and I uploaded this story in what- March? If you're reading this on AO3 than later than that but still. I'm sorry. **

**Btw: I'm going to be changing the story title and summary by the time I release the next chapter. **

**Favorite, Follow, Review and _I'll tell you how to catch yourself using your own power_**


	3. Hodophobia - Fear of Traveling

**7000+ words.**

**_7000+ WORDS!_**

**I know that I took forever to update so I figure that I have to give you guys a long chapter.**

**Quick news: 1)I am going to reupload the previous chapters because I am making some minor edits (aka changing blonde to blond and Teruki to Hanazawa when it's Ritsu POV) 2)This story was previously called Complex Phobias (I might change it back but I doubt so).**

**Enjoy the story and _please _take some time to write a review after reading.**

* * *

Hodophobia - Fear of Traveling

* * *

The plan was simple.

The plan was simple.

The plan was simple.

This mantra had been going on in Ritsu's head for at least five minutes and the plan _was_ supposed to be simple. But as he stepped up to his parent's room, faux application papers in hand, he began to seriously doubt that.

Ritsu carried a stack of five papers and at the top of each, the words "Yuba High" were written. Yuba High is a private boarding school. It's so pristine and exclusive that practically no information can be found about it through your standard Moogle search.

At least, that was the story that he was to go off of.

In actuality, Yuba High didn't exist. It was simply a piece of fake information in this "plan" of Hanazawa's.

A plan to get him into UA High.

In all honesty, Ritsu didn't want to do any of this. He didn't want to lie to his parents, to Shigeo. He didn't want to go to some superhero school for who knows how long (because apparently Hanazawa didn't know either) with people he didn't know. But, he also knew that he couldn't just not do anything. Especially with what Hanazawa told him in the phone call.

* * *

_"It has to do with Claw."_

_The sleep in Ritsu almost left him at hearing those words._

_Claw._

_"You have to be kidding."_

_They had just dealt with them like a week ago! What more could there be?_

_"Yes," Hanazawa drawled, "because I love joking about crazy esper cults that try to kill kids."_

_Ritsu let out a dry laugh in an attempt to mask his contempt for the blond. "Get to the point."_

_"Well, the point is this: Crazy esper cult leader is pairing up with crazy villain cult leader so that they can rule their respective world."_

_"That's awfully vague. May I ask who exactly this 'Crazy villain cult leader' is? In fact, I would like to know how you know any of this?" The lack of sleep was seriously starting to get to Ritsu now, "What exactly have you been doing that suddenly makes you the keeper of all knowledge? How come you haven't told anybody? How come you're bothering with me, huh?"_

_Ritsu's was basically gasping for breath at that point. He wanted answers, not this vague "I need you" bullcrap._

_"Look," Hanazawa snapped, all amusement leaving his voice, "this isn't something to be taken lightly. And his isn't something that raw strength can just come in and fix. Right now, this is a time for cunning, patience, and stable emotions."_

_A deep exhale of breath could be heard from Hanazawa's end before he continued._

_"You need me to explain myself? Okay Brother-kun. I need you to infiltrate UA High for me."_

_"UA High?", Ritsu said, "You mean that superhero school?"_

_"Yes, 'that superhero school'. Evil things are happening right now. By evil people with evil plans. I was able to gather all the information that I currently have by snooping around in that other world and I learned."_

_"So why don't you just keep doing-"_

_"It isn't enough. Not enough to do something. I know what they plan to do but not **how** they plan to do it. That's why I need you. _

_Rumour has it that the number one hero, All Might, is going to be teaching at UA next year and I need you to be there for that. Particularly in the hero course."_

_"In the middle of the action? Do you really think that that's a good idea if I'm supposed to be snooping around?"_

_"Of course it is Brother-kun!" Ritsu could hear a bit of a smile come back to Hanazawa's voice, "There's going to be a green haired kid taking that class, I'm sure of it. I see him and All Might training at the beach every now and then when I pass by and they're close. Get close to him, get close to All Might."_

_"And you need me to know about All Might because he's the number one line of defense in that world right?"_

_"Exactly. I need to know how strong he is so that I can gauge how to approach this whole fiasco. When I ran into you I realized that you were the perfect person to help me," Hanazawa explained._

_Ritsu still wanted to say no even after all of the explanation. If he helped he didn't know when he would be done or if he would even succeed. Hanazawa should've just gone to an adult, he was in over his head if he wanted to take this on by himself._

_"So, Brother-kun, will you join me?"_

_But it seemed that he didn't want to take this on by himself._

_"Alright Hanazawa-san, I'll join you," Ritsu said these words so assuredly that one would almost think that he had even the slightest clue what he was getting into._

* * *

With this in mind, he gathered up his courage and knocked.

"Come in."

Ritsu stepped in and closed the door behind him.

Inside the room was his mother, sitting on the side of the bed with reading glasses on the tip of her nose and a phonebook in her lap. She glanced at him, then to the papers in his hands, and then back to the phonebook.

"What are those for Ritsu?"

"Uh...well kaa-san," Ritsu mumbled, "I've been looking at this one school, Yuba High, for quite a while now. Since my time in Salt Middle was coming to an end I thought that I would send an application in, just to see if I could make it and well..."

"Yuba High? I've never heard of it,"

"That would make sense,"

Finally, she lifted her head and looked at him. "Why would that make sense?"

"Well...it's an abroad school," Ritsu mumbled.

He could see the moment the panic went into his mother's eyes. They went wide and stared _into_ him.

"What?" She sounded breathless.

"It's not that far!" He was quick to reassure her. "It's only in Taiwan."

"That's over a thousand miles away!"

"Technically it's only 1,345 mi—"

"Don't."

"Okay."

Ritsu slowly walked toward her, handed her the papers and took a small step back. He watched as she pushed her glasses up and started looking through the papers. She thoroughly looked through each one and what they asked of her.

Things like permission to put him in their custody, his medical background, what he would be provided with and that she understood that parents/guardians were not allowed to be aboard the plane that would be taking the students to the school.

When she finished reading everything she let out a huff and looked to him.

"Taiwan? Really?"

"Yes kaa-san," Ritsu assured, "Really."

"It's so far away and do you even understand Mandarin? How will we even pay for this?"

"I've been looking into this a long while so I've learnt a bit. Besides, it's an international school so they have a class for it. As for paying for it, I got a full ride scholarship."

That was a bold-faced lie. This whole conversation was a bold-faced lie.

Ritsu took a step closer to his mother and said, "I know you don't want me to go away but I've been looking forward to this for so long. It's a place where I know I'll be challenged and it's something that I want."

She looked into his eyes and he did his best not be intimidated. They stayed like that for a bit, holding eye contact with each other. Finally, she closed her eyes and visibly deflated into the cushioning of their bed.

"First you start staying out late and now you want to head out a thousand miles on your own. Honestly, I don't want you to do this,"

Ritsu was panicking but he put his head down to hide it. Was she going to deny him? What would he do now? What would _they _do now? He had to say something. He had to convince her to—

"But—" she looked back to him—"my want for you to stay here pales in comparison to my want to make you happy. If you want _this,_" she gestured to the papers, "then why would I want to stop you?"

Shaken out of his negative thoughts he looked at his mother.

"Really?"

"Yes Ritsu," she assured, "Really."

He wanted to crumple to the floor. He did it. _He did it. _But was it worth it to lie? Did he even have a choice?

"Although I do have to convince your father," she mused, "but I'll try my best."

* * *

Ritsu's first hurdle was cleared once his mother agreed to let him go to "Yuba High" (something he still felt horrible about).

Now he needed to talk to Hanazawa because this "plan" still had _so many holes._

He was walking down the sidewalk that lead to Hanazawa's apartment. The same sidewalk that he almost came crashing into a little while back and the same sidewalk that _still _had the pile of feces on it.

Carefully side stepping the pile, Ritsu made his way to the entrance of the apartment complex and up the flight of stairs. Hanazawa, being the person that he is, had his apartment on the top floor.

Ritsu came up to door 528 and knocked. The last time he'd been here they went over the fake documents for "Yuba High". Hanazawa told him to get the papers signed and come back. Although the papers weren't signed, they might as well have been. Once his mother agreed to something his father was sure to go along with it.

He was there because he wanted to know what was going to happen next. Even though the two of them have been discussing this quite a bit there were still so many things that Ritsu didn't know.

Where would he be staying once he leaves? How will he apply for UA in the first place if he doesn't exist there? What would they do to earn money? And why hasn't Hanazawa opened the door yet?

Ristu knocked again.

Still no answer.

He knocked again, this time louder.

Still no answer.

He was going to knock down this door if it didn't open soon. Sure, he wasn't super strong but he had enough—

No. This was a learning experience.

If Hanazawa didn't want to open the door, fine. He would do it himself.

Breathing slowly, he envisaged the lock from the inside. It was a two-step lock with a chain lock toward the top and a twist lock toward the middle.

Using his powers, Ritsu grabbed the chain and removed it from the door. Then, he gripped the knob of the twist lock and turned it to the right until it—

_Click!_

_'Perfect._'

Ritsu grabbed the knob on the outside and pushed the door open. He looked in and finally realized why Hanazawa hadn't opened the door. The lights were off. Which meant that Hanazawa wasn't home.

He felt like an idiot.

Not wanting his trip to be in vain, he looked around him to make sure that no one was looking and then made his way into the apartment.

There wasn't much to see in the living room. It was just as clean as it was when he first came over. The kitchen was just as tidy and the floor was just as spotless.

He made his way through the small hallway and to Hanazawa's bedroom. It, just like the rest of the apartment, was clean. The bed was made and the small work desk was clear of clutter. Except for a small note that said:

_Satis Club 6pm_

_Entrance in the slide at the park_

Why would there be a club inside a slide? That didn't make sense, unless...

Ritsu made his way toward a window and looked out. Outside, there were two kids playing tag. They were running in a circle around a—

_'There it is.'_

He quickly made his way out of the apartment (he locked it behind him of course), down the flights of stairs, and out of the building.

A little ways away there was a small kiddy park and in the middle of that park was a small, bright red slide. Ritsu made his way toward it and around the kids who had switched to playing hide and seek.

As he made his way up the 6-prong ladder in two steps, he felt a little bit ridiculous. He felt even more ridiculous when he sat down at the entrance of the slide and realized that his feet almost were almost sticking out the other end of the slide.

Not wanting to feel this embarrassment anymore, he gave himself a little push and—

"Hey Hana, where did that scary looking guy go?"

* * *

Bakugou was tired.

It had been a long day for the aspiring hero and he had spent it at the junkyard. That was where he always went because apparently when you have an explosive quirk that's triggered by sweat and an explosive personality to match, gyms really won't want you. So he made use of the junkyard and all the scraps it provided for training.

He was tired and sweaty so the cool breeze was welcomed. The day was turning into dusk and Bakugou had to get home before the old hag and pops finished dinner. If he didn't eat with the family he didn't eat at all.

Today he had practiced propelling himself through the air with his quirk. His goal was to stay up for 30 seconds while using the least amount of energy possible. He was currently at 16 seconds.

To get into UA he had to keep on working and improving his quirk. Of course, he was going to get in regardless (his quirk was perfect after all) but something in him told him to at least put some effort in, for once on his life.

While he was woolgathering, he failed to notice that someone was walking right toward him.

They crashed into each other.

"Ow what the the fuck!"

"Ouch, I really need to start looking where I walk."

As he got up, Bakugou saw a that the person who bumped into him was a boy with spiky hair. He was holding his head and mumbling some nonsense to himself, not even bothering to apologize for what he did.

"Hey!" Bakugou growled, "Watch where you're fucking going you dumbass!"

The loser actually had some decency to look sorry. However, the look didn't last long and he quickly retaliated.

"Well, I'm _sorry, _you jerk!"

Who did this extra think he was? If he had bothered to watch where the fuck he was going they wouldn't be like this in the first place.

"You better be sorry! Watch where you're going you worthless creep!"

When the he rolled his eyes Bakugou had to do everything in his power not to throttle him. Getting caught illegally using his power on some weakling wouldn't be becoming of the next top hero. Threats however, were never below him.

Pulling a sneer onto his face, Bakugou made his way past the kid (making sure to bump into his shoulder while doing so).

"If you ever do shit like this again," he turned back to look at the smaller boy and created tiny explosions in his hand, "I'll blow your face off."

The kid looked at him before remarking, "Is that a threat?"

He really didn't value his life now did he?

Lid blown, Bakugou did a full 180 and marched over to him. He grabbed the collar of his sweatshirt and pulled the kid up to his eye level. He was done with this shit.

"Yes, it is," he snarled. "If you disrespect me again, regardless of your quirk, I'll blast you to smithereens."

He still didn't let go of his collar after he was done. Honestly, he expected the kid to either shut up or say something that would be detrimental to his health. What he ended up saying threw Bakugou a bit off his rhythm, although, he would never actually admit so.

**"**Quirk?" he muttered, almost to himself before realization seemed to settle in, "Oh a quirk."

Hearing this, Bakugou quickly released the kid which caused him to fall onto his back and groan. It's not like he cared about how the— he couldn't even stomach _thinking_ about the word —felt.

The way he spoke, he sounded—

"Tch, whatever you useless loser."

_'Disgusting,'_ he thought as he headed back to his place. He had to get away from that kid as quickly as possible lest his qiurklessness be rubbed off on him. He couldn't believe that some defenseless loser thought that he could stand up to him when he didn't even have a quirk to fight with.

By the time he got home the lights were off and the dinner table was cleared. If he hadn't been caught up with that creep he would have been able to eat.

Sighing, Bakugou washed his hands, went to the counter, grabbed a knife, and started making some food for himself. Just like he was used to.

* * *

It hadn't even been 20 minutes since he went down the red kiddy slide but, after his encounter with that fiery blond, Ritsu was in even more of a rush to find Hanazawa and go home. He swore to himself that he would make it back in time for dinner and he wasn't going to upset his family again, especially after his mother agreed to let him go to "Yuba High".

The only problem that he had was that he hadn't the slightest clue where Satis Club was. He tried asking for directions but the first person he ran into, a woman with literal _sparkles_ surrounding her, had no idea what he was talking about either. She was the fourth person he had asked and he was growing more frustrated with each look of confusion he received.

So there he was, standing in the middle of a crowded street, completely lost. He should've just went back home when he realised that Hanazawa wasn't at his apartment and tried again tomorrow. Well, at least it wasn't too late to do that now.

With that, Ritsu pivoted on the ball of his foot and started to make his way back to the old abandoned park that the red slide led him to. He was about two minutes away from his destination when a—

"What the—!" he said, recoiling in fear and confusion.

In front of him, there stood a six foot tall, tower of a woman, with large and pointy canines. She too recoiled from him. That is until a wicked smile came upon her face and she sauntered toward him. Which, in turn, made him back away from her. He would have backed away for as long as he needed to but his back and an alley wall became abruptly acquainted with each other.

The woman used that chance to corner him block him from any chance of escape. She towered over him and bared her fangs.

"What do we have here?" she hissed. "A boy? Young people are always the best to prey on. So small," she pet his head, "so ignorant. You'll be a perfect addition to my little army."

Ritsu could only stare up at her in slight horror as she talked about making him her "meat shield" or a "scapegoat". What could he do? Actually, he realized, there were a lot of things he could do.

"One bite and you're mine ki—"

Using his powers, he flung her into a pile of garbage bags that were on the opposite side of the alley. Garbage bags which, unfortunately, gave her soft landing. Soft as it was, it was enough to enrage the serpentine woman.

"How dare you!" she shrieked as droplets of green liquid started to excrete from the tips of her fangs. "You brat! I am a_ lady!_ Forget controlling you, I'll kill you!"

She lunged at him with her teeth exposed and he got ready to defend himself with telekinesis. The "lady" never did reach him however. She was stopped by a wall of flames that separated him from her.

To his left, a man with crimson hair and _fire _for a facial hair appeared. He wore a dark bodysuit (Ritsu couldn't tell what color it was due to the bright light) with fire accentuating it. The man was tall and bulky and the way he held himself, mixed with his clothing choices, had Ritsu completely convinced that this man was a—

"Ssshit," the snake lady groaned, "If it isn't Endeavor, the number _two _hero. I was almost worried. Good thing it isn't All Mi—"

"Shut up."

The man, Endeavor, was quick to grab her head and knock it against the red brick wall of the alley, knocking her unconscious. He looked extremely irritated and didn't really give Ritsu a "hero" vibe but he was strong and capable regardless.

"Hey kid," Endeavor said just as Ritsu about to walk (run) away, "try to stay away from shady places like alleys. You civilians are too weak and will get hurt if you aren't alert."

With that tiny bit of wise (albeit obvious) advise, the man left with the unconscious, towering snake lady over his shoulder and in cuffs.

_'Well that was bizarre.'_

Now that Ritsu was safe, he made his way back to the abandoned park he was heading to before. He was bummed out about coming here for nothing but after getting shouted at by a stranger and getting attacked by a villain he was excited to go home.

Climbing up a short, rusty, and creaky ladder, he sat down at the top of an old yellow kiddy slide. He briefly studied its sad condition. The slide—as well as the rest of the park—was probably really clean and taken care of before it was abandoned. Why was it abandoned in the first place?

Looking up at the sky and seeing how close it was to getting dark, Ritsu pushed himself down he slide. By the time he came out he was...still in the park.

"What?"

He came in through the red slide and ended up outside the yellow slide. How come he couldn't go down the yellow slide and end up outside the red slide? That didn't make sense. Had the portal gone that quickly? Or maybe he had to-

When it finally clicked Ritsu felt ridiculous. If he went down to get here he'll have to go up to get back. Crawling up a slide like a confused toddler would definitely be embarrassing but what choice did he have?

At least the park was abandoned.

Swallowing his dignity, Ritsu made his way up the ladder. It was cramped in there but at least it was a short slide. He'd back home in like a seco—

"What in the _world _are you doing Brother-kun?"

Ritsu froze. There was a brief moment of silence between him and the blond before he let out a muffled groan:

"Uuugh, what are you doing here?"

"What are _you _doing here?" Hanazawa retorted before continuing on in a coy matter, "Honestly, I was feeling pretty good today too before I saw your butt sticking out of an abandoned kiddy slide.

"I get what you're doing, you're trying to head back home, but it is hard having to see this from an outside perspective."

Ritsu, butt first, shimmied his way back down the slide. Once he was out, he turned and glared at the blond. He stood there smiling in a sweatshirt and jeans with colors that clashed horribly together and he had a bright yellow backpack on.

"Where were you!"

"I was over there," he pointed to the alley where Ritsu had been recently attacked and saved. Just a bit further down the alley there were double doors.

"You're kidding me," he hissed.

"Why would I joke about my location? I was at a place called Satis Club. Quite the shady place if you ask me but that only makes sense."

"I got attacked literally one meter away from there! And it was because I went looking for _you_!"

Hanzawa's smile went away for a bit as he finally noticed how scuffed up and sweaty Ritsu looked. His cheeks flushed red with embarrassment before he lowly mumbled an apology.

Seeing that the blond was somewhat remorseful, Ritsu decided to let it go. Besides, he didn't want to stay at this creepy park any longer. He hadn't noticed it before but the whole area surrounding the park looked abandoned.

"Why is this place so devoid of life?" he asked.

Hanazawa merely furled his eyebrows at him. He looked around the area before visible realization struck him.

"Oh!" he laughed, "That's because all of the villains that hang out around here."

"Villains?"

"Yeah. Once Satis Club was created villains would get angry in there and settling their arguments out here. Eventually it became so frequent that the residents of the area fled. Now this place is basically the entrance of the underground." Hanazawa looked him in the eyes and said, "Try not to hang around here, for your own good."

"Noted," Ritsu remarked. There was no way that he was going to go anywhere near here again. Especially after getting attacked like that. But if he shouldn't hang around here then why was Hanazawa?

"Hanazawa-san, why were you here?"

"Oh yes!" Hanazawa said as though he forgot something. He digged reached his arm around his back and grabbed the backpack. He placed it on the ground and dug through it a bit before removing a stack of papers, cards, and booklets. "I was getting us some illegal legal documents," he said as he showed Ritsu four fake birth certificates, four fake passports, and two fake ID cards.

"Why do you have four passports and birth certificates? I thought you only needed me." Although he tried not to show it Ritsu felt hurt. Was he not good enough to help? It hurt in the smallest of ways but it still hurt.

"These are for our 'parents' as well as the IDs. Well technically their your parents and my guardians."

Oh. He was worried over nothing.

"Your guardians?"

"I'm adopted," Hanazawa elaborated. "I mean we look nothing alike so it would be weird if we lived together otherwise."

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about actually. What's the situation going to be like once we get to work? How are we going to get money? Are you going to get a job? Am I going to get a job?"

Hanazawa looked at Ritsu for a bit before he broke out into laughter. "Brother-kun you worry too much," he said as he walked up and patted Ritsu's shoulder, "But I do understand that you feel a bit out of the loop and I promise I'll catch you up but first we need to get back home."

Looking up at the sky, Ritsu saw that the sun was already beyond the horizon. He had about 20 minutes before his mother got mad.

"Yeah okay, let's go."

Up the slide they went. Ritsu made sure that Hanazawa went first before climbing up the old yellow slide himself.

* * *

"Hey Kai! The scary looking guy is back!"

When they got back, Ritsu and Hanazawa took their time as they walked. Since it was dark by now, Ritsu decided that he didn't want to make the trip up to Hanazawa's apartment just to head back down and rush home.

"So," Ritsu drawled, "are you going to fill me in on things? I mean, I am the only other person helping you so it would be pretty dumb for you to leave me in the dark."

"Okay okay I get it," Hanazawa yielded. "Brother-kun, while you are busy digging up information on All Might, I will be 'exploring' the inner workings of the hero system. For money, I'll be the one finding work. You focus on All Might. Remember the green-haired kid? Hang around him, but if he starts drawing in too much attention you need to distance yourself as soon as possible, you don't want to be on anyone's radar."

"That's kind of a lot to take in. Wouldn't it be easier not to interact with him at all?"

"I suppose that it would," Hanazawa pondered but Ritsu could almost smell the snarky follow-up the blond had. "I also suppose that it wouldn't be a big deal if you missed any important, _worlds_-saving information because you weren't 'interacting' with him. I suppose you could just follow him around everywhere he goes but not like a stalker just someone who constantly trails someone he never talks to because it's 'not like you like him' or anything. I suppose that, in a world of people with unpredictable powers, no one will grow suspicious of you. Not at all."

"Uugh," Ritsu groaned, "You can drop the act. I get it."

"Good," he said. "When you're attending UA you need to be involved in everything without letting anyone knowing that you're involved in anything."

By that time, the two had reached the front of Hanazawa's apartment building. Looking down at his watch, Ritsu saw that he only had about five minutes to get back home. He told Hanazawa so and started to make his way back.

"Wait," Hanazawa called out.

"Yeah?"

"Training starts tomorrow morning, be ready."

Ritsu just smiled at the blond in conformation before heading home. He was so ready for this.

* * *

_**6 Months of Ritsu falling, Hanazawa being snarky, and Ristu punching him later**_

"_The flight from Seasoning City, Japan to Taipei, Taiwan will board in 15 minutes."_

Ritsu couldn't breathe. Why? Because he was currently being chocked out by his mother's hug.

"Ooh my little man is going off on his own!" she leaned back to get a good look at him before continuing, "Make sure that you call at least two times a week and give me notice ahead of time of you're going to be unable to call."

"Yeah yeah kaa-san." She was worrying too much.

She just smiled at him before leaning down so that they were at eye-level. "I'm not kidding," she stared into his soul, "Make sure you call or else I'll drag you back here myself."

A cold shiver ran down his spine. Is this what Hanazawa had seen before he had relocated his jaw? Are threats what Ritsu inherited from his mother?

He was soon pulled out of his mother's arms and they became replaced by his father's. Just like his mother, his father gave him a hug that left no room to breathe. After another far too long hug he was pushed an arm's length away and his father held onto his shoulders.

"Let me get a good look at you," he said while tilting his head this way and that way, up and down. Once he finally got his good look he let out a soft hum and let go of Ritsu. "You'll be fine in Taiwan, I'm sure if it."

A simple "Thanks" was all that Ritsu could muster out. He felt that if he spoke too much his shame would reveal itself. Would it be too bad if he just told them the truth? Sure, he's probably be grounded and never be able to see Hanazawa again but did it matter when—

"Ritsu."

He wondered how much shame and guilt his body could take before he burst. "Shige-nii."

Shigeo didn't give him a verbal response, rather, he went up and hugged him. Ritsu had been receiving a lot of hugs from Shigeo as of late. This one was different from the others however because he wasn't sure when he would have the ability to hug his brother again, so he just held on tighter.

_"The flight from Seasoning City, Japan to Taipei, Taiwan is now boarding."_

"That's my flight," he said. Shigeo let out a soft hum in response and they finally let go of each other.

As he made his way outside to where his plane was, Ritsu couldn't help but be filled with a sense of dread. He turned around to see his family smiling and waving at him and he smiled back. A wavering smile, a smile that he wasn't sure he could keep on for much longer.

When his legs turned and went running over to his family, he didn't even register it. He was staring at them one moment and then in their arms the next. His face was wet with hot tears as he mumbled all the sincere goodbyes he could muster.

With that feeling of dread eliviated from him, he made his way back to his dropped carry-ons and toward the steps that lead up to his plane. He was out of his family's sight by now and he was trying to settle himself down while he waited in line.

"I didn't know that you had any other feelings than irritation and angry confusion."

The person in front of him turned around to face Ritsu but he knew who it was from the moment they spoke.

"Hello jacka—"

"Hey hey hey," Teruki cut him off as he put his hands up in defense, "no need to get upset, I just want to make sure that you're okay Brother-kun."

Ritsu was a bit off-put. "That's...pretty nice of you actually, despite your terrible way of approaching the subject."

"See Brother-kun? I'm not heartless," he said, obviously offended, "I'm actually quite a nice person."

"Yeah, yeah. And stop calling me that."

"I try to but it's just so fun. It's like a little nickname for you. Besides, you still call me 'Hanazawa' and I've been training you for six months."

During the six months they had spent training, Ritsu had eventually dropped the "-san" from the blond's name. Calling him by his first name shouldn't hurt...too much.

_"Fine..._ Teruki."

Hanazawa's—nowTeruki's—mood noticably brightened up as they took another step forward in the slowly moving line. "Thank you. We better head out now don't you think?"

Ritsu looked at how close they were to the stairs that lead up to the plane and then back to where his family supposedly was, for he couldn't see them now. He looked to Teruki before nodding his head in agreement.

Together, they slipped out of line, Teruki with the purple cap on his head pulled down and Ritsu with his hood up. They made their was back inside the airport through another door and went to the bathroom which made Ritsu groan upon seeing it.

They made there way inside and Ritsu pulled up a barrier around his skin, ready to jump into another toilet portal. If he had to guess which stall it was in he would place his bet on the one with a love heart scratched into the door and with the spider webs "decorating" it.

As he made his way toward the stall he was surprised to see that Teruki was not following after him. Instead, he was feeling his hair in front of the trash can.

"What are you doing?"

"Well Brother-kun—"

"Stop calling me that."

"I finally figured out the tell for the portals."

"Would you mind sharing with the rest of the class?"

"I would love to," he said as he turned his attention from the trash can to the bathroom mirror. "I figured out the tell while I was scratching my head looking for portals. It turns out, that I was scratching the answer all along. Your hair will grow softer as you get closer to a portal on this side and it will grow coarser when you get near a portal on the other side."

"Huh," Ritsu expressed, quite dumbfounded. That was a completely ridiculous tell and he to Teruki so.

"Ridiculous tell or not, it's still the tell," He said as he raised the hand that wasn't in his hair and pushed it through the mirror which had created a ripple affect in it. He turned his head to look at Ritsu before smiling, "Are you ready to see the apartment I got for us?"

Ritsu gripped the handle of his carry-on backpack and smiled back at Teruki before nodding.

"Yeah, I'm ready."

* * *

When he entered Apt. 126 Ristu was quick to figure out its layout. First of, the place was very brown-toned which was an odd choice coming for the brightly colored blond to pick. The living room was to the right of the door and consisted of a couch and a table with a tv in front of it. To the left of the door was the kitchen which was outfitted with a stove, oven, and a pretty sizable fridge. The table that went with it had 4 chairs around it.

There was a short hallway a little ways ahead of the door that lead to three different rooms. One to the left, one to the right, and one at the end.

He opened the door at the end and saw that it was just a bathroom. Then, he made his way to the room to the right and saw that it was a bedroom. The bed was neatly made with a cream bedsheet with a deep blue blanket on top. There was a tv in front of it and doors that seemed to lead to a closet next to the tv. The wall opposite the door had a desk with a window in front of it, a bulky computer on top of it, and a small and empty bookshelf next to it.

Ritsu made his way out of the bedroom and into the room on the left. It was also a bedroom and it had the same layout as the other. The only difference was that this one was a complete mess.

There were crumpled pieces of paper littering the carpeted floor and the small trash can was overflowing. Next to the desk was a giant and frankly ridiculous conspiracy board. Complete with red yarn, news paper clippings, and photos of random people. Even that hero, Endeavor, who had saved him months ago was on it.

While pondering the absurdity of the mess, Ritsu heard the door open again. It was Teruki. He stood there with a sheepish smile that showed he had enough humility to at least feel ashamed about the mess.

"So what do you think of the place?" he mumbled.

"It's nice," Ritsu said as he gave the room another once-over, "but you need to explain _this_. It completely contrasts how clean your old apartment was."

"Planning a takedown is quite hard and I was trying to get my thoughts organized."

"Well you should try to get your room organized out else you'll crash and burn. Haven't you ever studied before?" Ritsu picked up the small trash can and made his way out of the room. "If you keep this mess up you'll get irritated when you lose something."

"No not really," Teruki said as he followed him out of the room and into the kitchen.

"You're kidding," Ritsu said in disbelief while emptying the smaller trash can into the larger kitchen one. "How did you even make it to high school without studying?"

"Well, it didn't hurt that I had people willing to help me."

"You had enough people like you _that_ much? Unbelievable."

"I guess that you could put it that way," Teruki weakly chuckled.

Ritsu gave the blond a quizzical look before letting the weird response go. "It doesn't matter what happened before. What matters matters now is that _you_," he shoved te now empty trash bin into Teruki's hands, "need to clean up and organize that pigsty. I'll help you out."

"Yeah oka—wait no."

"What?"

Teruki, first putting down the trash can, went into that mess he called his room and came back with two composition notebooks. He shoved both of them into his hands and said:

"You are not going to be helping me Brother-kun—"

"Don't call me that."

"You're going to be studying for the UA entrance exam."

"I still have time to do that later so there's no need to be in a rush," Ritsu insisted.

"The exam is in a week and you have to learn everything you can about this place and at least some of its history. Not just how to fight and do math," Teruki counter-insisted. He proceeded to take Ritsu's shoulders and push him into his own clean room. He placed him down in the chair of the desk and then left.

Ritsu just stared forward, dazzed, before realizing what just happened.

He got up and went to the closed door but when he tried to open it he found that it was locked.

"Hey! Unlock this door!"

A muffled "Study!" was the only response that he got.

Ritsu huffed in defeat before returning to his desk. He looked down at the top notebook before turning on the computer and getting to work.

He needed to change that lock. Why would someone even make a bedroom door that locks on the outside?

* * *

**Sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes and for taking so long to update you guys. I truly hope that your staying safe and that if any of your loved ones have been hurt by this pandemic I hope they get better.**

**Please stay home and help flatten the curve.**

**That being said, PLEASE make sure that you review this chapter (They're really great motivators)! I would love to hear about your thoughts and what you hope will happen next.**

**The setting is now changing to the BNHA world so I hope you're all ready to get excited.**

_**Favorite, follow, review and I'll show you how to make your own conspiracy board.**_


	4. Megalophobia - Fear of Large Objects

_Bee—_

His hand came down on the alarm clock before it could finish its first beep. He had no need for it anyway because there was no way he was going to sleep in today.

Bakugou clambered out of bed and went straight into the bathroom, his clothes falling away as he did so. With the temperature at its highest, he stepped into the shower and was back out within three minutes.

On an average day, he wouldn't mind taking his time but today wasn't an average day. About ten whole months of training were going to be tested today to see if he could get into UA High, the best hero school in Japan. He, being the best, would only settle for the best.

Unlike most of the extras who would be there, Bakugou wasn't nervous. There was not a single shred of doubt in his mind that he wouldn't be able to make it in. How could he _not _get in? His grades were top of his class, so there was no way he wouldn't pass the written exam, and his quirk? It was practically made for him! There was not a single extra out there that could best him and he'd kill anyone that tried!

Fully dressed and aggressively brushing his teeth, he thought of what he would have to do for the practical part of the exam. It changed every year and even information on the past exams was kept under wraps. Would it be an individual test or would it be based on teamwork? _God, _he hoped not. Lest he be placed with losers like—

'_Deku…'_

Would he be there? Impossible. How could a quirkless runt like him even get a chance to apply for the entrance exam? Despite his reassurances, memories from months ago decided to pop into his head at the exact wrong moment.

"_You're face...it looked like you were asking for help."_

Asking for _help?_ Who was he to call him helpless! He said it before and he'd say it again, he doesn't need that quirkless extra's help!

He roughly slapped himself. There was no need to trouble himself with useless thoughts. He finished brushing his teeth and made his way downstairs for breakfast. The meal was small but hearty and he was quick to eat it and quick to put away his plate.

With his shoes on and a change of clothes in his backpack, he made his way outside and slammed the door, not caring if his parents were still asleep.

His feet carried him along the path that his phone had mapped out for him. He chose the long and scenic route to the train station despite his previous urgency to get to the exams quickly. It was onoy 6:00am so he had two hours to himself and his thoughts.

"_...like you were asking for help."_

His incredibly annoying voice echoed through his head. Fuck. Why did it matter anyway? Why did he keep such a worthless memory in his brain to taunt him? Does Deku think he's fucking helpless?

_"...help."_

Him? Bakugou Katsuki was _far_ from helpless! Digging his foot into the gravel, he kicked pebbles and dust up into the air. He felt so pissed off by just thinking about him. It made him feel so...so—

"Aaargh!"

His hands dug into his scalp as he tried to clear his head. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a head of blond spiky hair walk past him.

_'Great…'_

Someone probably just heard him. And his yelling. It took a lot of willpower not to loudly curse again in fear that the person might still be within hearing range. He couldn't have anybody see or hear him in such an embarrassingly pathetic state.

What was going on with him? He felt so worked up and he hated it almost as much as he despised Deku. Maybe that was the problem. All these thoughts needed to settle down. He just needed to focus on the task at hand.

Clearing his head, he continued on his path to the train station.

* * *

The morning weather was cold but Teruki figured that he could handle it until he got to his destination. It was a shame that no trains came near that area, abandoned as it was.

The neighborhood he had just walked through was pretty quiet (if he didn't count the random angry screaming from earlier) and was right next to the abandoned part of the city.

He knew that he was in the right place once he saw the old playground he had found Ritsu in. Turning into an alley, he walked to the end and faced the metal double doors that were the entrance to Satis* Club. He knocked eight times and waited.

The cover to the peephole was removed and two pink eyes stared out at Teruki.

"Go beyond...?" A sleazy voice questioned.

"And kill All Might," Teruki responded, withholding a sigh.

He could see the man's eyes crinkle with mirth before the peephole was closed again. One of the doors was pulled open and Teruki was greeted by the smiling face of Giran**, a villain broker, who ushered him inside.

"Welcome back Hanazawa-kun," Giran said while walking ahead of Teruki. "You here for the last of your documents?"

"What else would I be here for?"

"I don't know," he said as he rummaged through one of his many hidden shelves, "You could always let me put you on my roster?" He turned back to Teruki and tossed a manila folder into his hands.

"For the last time Giran, I don't want to be apart of that villain roster of yours. You don't even know my quirk so why do you insist on bothering me about it?" By now, Teruki was flipping through the contents of the folder. There were fake adoption papers, family photos, graduation certificates, a workers permit, and—

"You know that you can stop giving me money too, right?"

Giran just gave him a small chuckle before saying, "First of all, I want you on my roster because you, a nobody, managed to find me, a very private man, without help."

"It's not that hard to find you. Especially when you have your fingers in everything." That wasn't particularly true. Teruki had found him out of pure luck. He had accidentally gone through a random portal and found the man talking to one of his clients. Not that he would ever tell him the truth.

Giran brushed off his statement and continued on, "About the money, I figured that there would be no harm in helping you out a little bit more. Plus, I already know your quirk."

Teruki tried, and failed, to hide his shock. Did he know that he was an esper? It didn't seem possible, especially since he scarcely used any of his abilities while he was over here.

"What are you? Surprised?" Giran chuckled. "Like you said, I have my fingers in everything, so when a stranger, and a kid to boot, knows me, I send someone to keep an eye on them."

Looking through more of the papers, Teruki found that his medical records listed him with a quirk called "Pyrokenisis". One of his goons must have seen him when he tried to warm himself up (he had gotten stuck in this world in the dead of night while wearing short sleeves not too long ago). At least he didn't know that he could do multiple things. That was a relief.

"Okay, stop having people follow me around, that's weird, and so what if you know my quirk? How does that help you at all?"

"The thing about me is that I don't care what happens, as long as I get paid. Your quirk can be applied in many different ways and you clearly have no money so you still owe me. A lot. Think of that extra money as extra incentive." Teruki didn't like how grave the man sounded. "Besides, I know your quirk now and that's enough. There's no need for my people to continue to follow you around."

"So you're going to _force_ me to be on your roster? Unbelievable."

"No, no. The life of a villain needs to be truly wanted for anything worthwhile to happen. I just want you to know that you owe me and that, when the time comes, you help me out," Giran came closer to Teruki and leaned over him, covering the blond in his shadow, "As in, stop what you're doing right now and come help me out."

At a moment's notice? Teruki didn't want to think about how that could potentially mess up his plans. Everything in him hated the idea but he knew that there was nothing he could do about it.

Sucking on his teeth, he let out a begrudged "Fine," and headed toward the door. "If you need me, call. You're the one who gave me the phones after all. You should at least know one of their numbers."

"Will do kid."

* * *

Bakugou was unpleasantly surprised when Deku came to sit beside him in UA's auditorium and it was clear from the sweat on the loser's face that he felt the same. Yet, he had the audacity to look at him. Bakugou glared back at him and Deku was quick to look away. Good.

"Oh! We have the same notebook!"

It seemed that the extra had found some other extra to talk to. He couldn't clearly see the guy but he saw Deku raising up his notebook for the other guy to see.

"Oh, you're right," the guy responded. "The only difference is what we wrote on the front."

Bakugou could've sworn that he had heard that voice before. He leaned forward a bit and looked to his left. When he finally saw who it was his already sour mood became worse.

"What the fuck are you doing here!" First he had to deal with Deku who somehow got there even though he's fucking quirkless and now this kid*** (well it seemed that they're the same age) who somehow _forgot_ what quirks even were was there too. And they're both right next to him.

Circumstance was fucking hilarious.

"Same thing you are. Honestly, I'm surprised you're even here. You seem way too abrasive to be a hero."

"Fucking porcupine! How about you come over here so that I can show you just how abrasive I ca—"

"WELCOME, ONE AND ALL, TO MY LIVE SHOOOW!"

Bakugou swore that his ears were bleeding. He swivelled his head to the front of the stadium and saw the pro hero, Present Mic. His quirk was strong but his ranking as a pro wasn't high enough for Bakugou to care. He would be able to pass him up in no time.

But, oh what he wouldn't do to block this guy out. As well as Deku who wouldn't fucking stop muttering to himself.

"It's Present Mic! I listen to his show all the time!"

"Shut it."

"EVERYBODY SAY HEEEEEY!" Even though nobody responded, the hero seemed unfazed. "PAY CLOSE ATTENTION LISTENERS! YOUR METTLE WILL BE TESTED IN A 10 MINUTE RUN IN OUR REPLICA CITY DISTRICTS! YOU'LL BE GATHERING AT YOUR DESIGNATED MEETING AREA RIGHT AFTER THE PRESENTATION, YA DIG?"

"Designated area?" Deku mumbled, "They're probably planning to separate classmates so that they don't team up then."

Bakugou looked over to Deku and saw that their numbers were different. The extra was right.

"It's probably set up so I don't crush you," he seethed and then directed his attention to Porcupine, "You on the other hand are a different case. You better stay out of my damn way."

Porcupine didn't even register what he said because he was too busy writing in his notebook. He didn't even bother to look at him. What a fucking nerd. He was probably worse than Deku.

When the presentation was over and after Deku had gotten berated by a tall guy with a stick up his ass, Bakugou was the first to leave the auditorium. He was quick to change and quick to get to his designated area.

Even though he was behind the gate he could already tell just how huge the mock city was. With the kind of budget the school had it was no wonder why it was the best. He knew that once he got in it would be that much better.

It wasn't said exactly when the exam would start so he took the time to examine the extras that crowded around him. There was a boy with skinny arms but giant elbows and the smile that he constantly wore made Bakugou instantly dislike him. There was also a girl with pink skin and hair but her quirk wasn't clear. Maybe it had to do with her horns?

Two people in and he was already getting bored of this. There was no need for him to focus on mere filler characters anyway so he turned back to the entrance and waited. The signal could go off at any moment so he had to be ready.

_'Focus.'_

"AAAND START!"

While everybody else was left confused at the abrupt start, Bakugou blasted into the city. With a head start like this, the extras would be lucky to even score a single point.

By the time the rest had started to run in, Bakugou had already gained 10 points. The robots could hardly be considered a challenge so all that training he did either really helped or was completely unnecessary.

Four minutes in, a 3-pointer came in on his right and caught him by surprise. Regardless, he was already ready to blast it to pieces. Just as it was about to get closer to him, it stopped, as if somebody was holding it back. It was then slowly lifted into the air and then smashed back into the earth.

"What the—?"

Bakugou looked behind the remains of the 3-pointer to see who had stolen his points. It was Porcupine, but he had a glow around him, but it was still _fucking Porcupine _and he had stolen his points.

"I thought I told you to stay the fuck outta my way!"

"How do you know that you weren't in _my _way?" Porcupine said.

"Cause you stole my points you damn idiot!"

"It's not my fault you were slower than me."

Bakugou would've said more but the extra was right. He couldn't waste his time talking to someone like him. Especially when he was aiming for the top.

"Tch. Whatever you nerd. Just stay out of my way," he bit out. He then turned away from Porcupine and propelled himself to where other robots were.

* * *

"Why is it taking so long for two minutes to pass?!"

His back was already starting to become sore due to the extra weight on it and his breathing was getting shallower by the second. Even though adrenaline was coursing through him, he didn't know how long he could keep on running.

_About one minute ago..._

"TWO MINUTES AND TWENTY SECONDS LEFT!"

Ritsu was doing good. He had 46 points and was on track to reaching 60. Getting 14 more points shouldn't be too hard for him.

If only it was that easy.

He had been running around trying to find a 3-pointer when he was put off balance by one of the other participants running into his shoulder. Instead of apologizing, they kept on running as though something was chasing them.

"Dude, you better get out of here!" The boy warned.

"What do you—"

His voice was cut off by the screaming of even more participants as they ran past him. What in the world were they running from?

Ritsu turned around just in time to see two buildings come crashing down and behind the rubble was a giant robot, as tall as the buildings it just knocked down. Its glowing red eyes (could they even be called eyes?) looked around the area before homing in on him.

A 0-pointer. He had to get out of there. Fast.

His legs were one step ahead of him and he was already running away from the giant thing. He had been a decent distance away from the 0-pointer when he heard someone groaning from behind him.

Turning back, he saw a boy with big elbows and His leg had been crushed under a chunk of rubble.

Ritsu was deliberating on whether or not to help the boy out. The robot wouldn't hurt him, right? Yeah. He should be fine. So why wouldn't his body let him leave? There was no reason for him to stay. They would be fine!

As much as he tried to deceive himself, he knew that he couldn't. Ritsu used his powers to remove the concrete slab from the boy's leg and then carried the boy in the air. It would have been fine too if the guy hadn't started barfing.

"Okay," Ritsu said as he put the boy back to the ground, "no telekinesis for you."

"Hey," the boy spoke up, "don't worry about me. I've got enough points and your quirk seems pretty cool. You wouldn't want to waste your time with me when you could be racking up more points."

Ritsu had already blocked him out when he started to suggest that he should just be left behind. The 0-pointer was getting closer and closer every second they stood there. But what could he do? He looked back to see how close the 0-pointer was (too close) and made up his mind. The boy looked light enough.

"Wha—? What are you doing?" the boy mumbled.

"Helping you."

Now he was here, running away from a giant maybe-murder machine while giving a boy with a probably fractured ankle a piggyback ride. Seriously, how could it take so long for two minutes to pass?

He barely had enough breath to keep on running but he definitely had enough fear. Fear is a tricky thing. One moment it could give you enough adrenaline to out run a giant robot and the next it could cloud your thinking so much that you end up running into a dead end.

"This isn't good," he bit out. Maybe he could run back out before the 0-pointer caught up. He turned back around but could barely take a step before the 0-pointer's shadow loomed over him. "This _really_ isn't good."

As it started to inch closer and closer to him, he placed the boy down on the ground behind him and tried to shield him from the robot. The giant, 20 story tall, and terryfing, in all intents and purposes, robot. But even if he didn't have the type of crazy power Shigeo had that allowed him to demolish entire buildings he could still help this kid out.

Once the 0-pointer got close enough to him it reared back its mechanical fist for a punch. He was quick to try and keep it back with his telekinesis but he wasn't sure how long it would hold. Would he have to use his barrier? Would he actually give himself away this early on in the game? After all the work Teruki had done?

His hold on the fist relinquished and it started to come down on him fast. Faster than he expected. Too fast. He had to think of something. He had to get away. There had to be _somethi_—

The punch halted, inches away from his face.

"THE TEST IS OOOVER!"

"What?"

Medics started filling into the city replica. They picked up the semi-consious boy and carried him away in a stretcher.

Ritsu couldn't believe it but he was relieved. The test was over. However, his relief didn't last long when he took the time to actually think about it. The test was _over _and he only had 46 points! He was still 14 points shy of his goal but, hopefully, 46 points should be enough right?

* * *

"How was the exam?" Teruki asked when he got to the apartment.

He had been chased down by a giant robot, thought that he was going to die (turned out that the robot couldn't _seriously_ harm you), only got 46 points, and his shoulders were aching.

"It was fine."

If Ritsu didn't get in to that school he didn't know what he would do.

* * *

Throughout the week after the exams, Ritsu had been so anxious that he could barely sit still. His mind was only filled with worries about whether or not he would get into UA.

Now that he finally had the letter in his hands, he didn't feel all too ready to open it.

_Bakugou had been pacing around the mailbox for the last two hours. His acceptance letter was coming in today and he wanted to get it as soon as possible. _

_So, when the mailman came by, he was quick to grab his stuff before they __could even be placed in the box. He went back into the house, dropped all the mail that wasn't relevant to him onto the counter, and headed to his room, letter in hand._

"Come on Brother-kun," Teruki patted the spot next to him on the living room sofa, "let's look at it together."

"Yeah, that sounds nice," he said as he made his way to Teruki.

Ritsu opened the envelope and reached in only to find that, along with a letter, there was a bulky disk-shaped object inside. He pulled it out and nothing happened. It confused him but he figured that it wasn't too important.

Placing the bulky disk down on the table, he reached back into the envelope for the letter. He was about to open it too when a _hologram_ came out of the disk.

"I have to say," the man speaking had long dark hair and very intense dark circles. His overall demeanor and dark clothing was a hilarious contrast to the video's bright and colorful backdrop, "you were pretty boring to watch."

_"HELLO LISTENER!"_

_Fuck, it was this guy again._

_His letter was a fucking hologram. Just how much money did UA have? Unfortunately for him, it was Present Mic on said hologram._

_"HERE AT UA, WE LOOK INTO A LOT OF FACTORS WHEN DETERMINING WHO GETS IN AND YOUR SHEER FIGHTING PROWESS WAS AMAZING TO WATCH!"_

"You have a flashy quirk yet you used it in such an unflashy way," Ritsu found it odd that even though the man sounded insulting, he was smiling, "It was very efficient, I liked it."

Teruki let out a breath of relief beside him.

"Things got more exciting towards the end, however. By choosing to stay and help an injured participant while all the others ran because they were more focused on their score, you showed all of us that you have the heart of a hero. Here at UA, it's our job to make sure that hearts like yours don't go to waste. Take your rescue points."

Wait. Was he saying what he thought he was?

"Kageyama Ritsu,"

_"BAKUGOU KATSUKI,"_

"76 points."

_"77 POINTS! WELCOME TO UA HIGH!"_

"Welcome to UA."

* * *

**_Ritsu's Notebook 1_**

_1+2+3=6 6×10=60_

_Met the green haired kid and he seems nice. Also seems unsure of himself so I could use that to my advantage. I should probably learn his name but I'll be close to him soon enough._

* * *

_Omake #1_

When Hanazawa had told Ritsu that they were going to train he hadn't expected it to be like this.

"Hanazawa-san, why do you have two mecha toys?"

They were in Hanazawa's apartment, sitting at a table with two mecha toys on it. It was his first lesson with Hanazawa (if he didn't count getting repeatedly pushed out of a tree until he could catch himself) and instead of learning how to use air whips they were doing this.

"They're part of your training of course!" Hanazawa said with a smile. "And why add the '-san' at the end if my name?"

"How are these toys going to help me in the slightest?" Ritsu asked. "Also, what does it matter what I call you if you still call me 'Brother-kun'?"

"Okay, that's fair," he relented. "The special thing about these mecha is that their joints are moveable."

"How is that special at all?"

"It means that that they can do more complex moves and we can move them with telekinesis." Once he said that, the mecha with red accents started to move about in a jerky fashion. It turned toward the other mecha with blue accents and reached out its arm to give it a soft nudge.

Following Hanazawa's lead, Ritsu turned the blue mecha and nudged the red mecha back.

"Now you're getting it!" Hanazawa said, "So let's fight."

"I'm sorry, let's what?"

"Fight. With the mecha that is."

"O...kay?"

It wouldn't be much a fight. It would probably be rather boring. But if Hanazawa said it would help he might as well try.

Ritsu started to make the first move when Hanazawa's mecha punched his. The force of the punch caused the blue mecha to fly _off_ the table and onto the floor.

"What was that?!" Ritsu asked, bewildered. He thought that they would be play fighting not that he would have to fear for the well-being of his mecha.

"If you don't put force behind it, this whole exercise will be pointless," Hanazawa reprimanded. "You need to put up a barrier around your mecha as well so that it doesn't get seriously damaged. They're not cheap you know."

Ritsu looked over to his mecha on the floor and saw that its plastic torso had been cracked from the punch. He lifted it up from where he lied and guided it back to the table, barrier up.

"Okay," Hanazawa said as his red mecha dropped into a fighting stance, "let's try this again."

After an hour of fighting with the mecha, Ritsu followed Hanazawa out of his apartment and to the playground area he had been in before. They both stood under the shade of a tree, facing each other.

"Brother-kun, I want you to punch this tree," Hanazawa gave the tree's thick trunk a light pat, "as hard as you can."

By now, Ritsu had learned not to question him. He was too tired to do so and it would probably lead to a back-and-forth between them and end with no clear answer. Ritsu stepped up to the pine tree, barrier up, and punched it as hard as he could.

The punch only chipped some bark off of the tree, surprising absolutely no one.

Ritsu looked back to Hanazawa with one eyebrow raised. His nonverbal question was nonverbally answered when Hanazawa stepped up and punched the tree himself. Unlike with Ritsu's punch, his resulted in a lot more than chipped bark.

"How in the world did you do that?"

"This," the blond gestured toward the small crater he put into the tree's trunk, "is what all that 'toy' fighting was for. The only difference is that your body is the mecha. So try again."

Ritsu looked from the blond, to the crater in the tree, and down to his own fist. He stepped back to the tree, sized it up, and pulled back his arm. Instead of using any of his muscles to back up the punch he used telekinesis.

The juxtaposition of being in and out of control of his body was jarring. It was even more jarring when Ritsu had made contact with the tree's trunk and, rather than leaving a decent sized crater like Hanazawa, he had punched a hole _through_ it. His whole body wasn't braced for such power and lurched forward with the punch.

"Whoa Brother-kun!" Hanazawa laughed, "You need to dial it back just a bit but I should've known you wouldn't take that into consideration, that's on me."

Ritsu, still in shock from the punch, couldn't stop staring at the hole he had left in the trunk. It had to at least be the size of both his hands laid out flat next to each other but, he still had it in him to be affronted by Hanazawa. "What do you mean by that? Do you think that I don't take things into consideration?"

"No, I'm just saying that you underestimate just how strong you truly are." Hearing that, Ritsu pulled his eyes away from the hole and to the blond. "I mean, you seriously thought that you had to put in that much power just to match my own punch. You're stronger than you think."

Had Hanazawa just complimented him? Ritsu could feel his face heat up at the thought. Being praised for being a powerful esper was a lot different than being praised for being smart, or athletic, or even just popular. A powerful esper to him usually just meant Shigeo. It was a nice change.

"Thanks."

"No problem!" Hanazawa said. "Now, try again and make sure to use less power this time."

* * *

**AN (Does anybody even read these?)**

**Hey guys! I hope you're all staying safe out there! Times are getting tough and the state I'm in is a hot spot for covid but at least I get to stay in and write more :)**

**I hate writing in all-caps so even though Bakugou shouts a lot, I'll never put it in all caps unless it's from a distance or a really serious moment. Except for Present Mic, that is literally what his whole quirk is based around.**

_**(Alternative lines)**_

_**"Aww, why add the '-san' at the end?"**_

_**"Why? Cause fuck you."**_

***Name of the Satis Club refers to the Satis House in Great Expectations. Satis as in satisfied but if you've read GE you know that the name means something different.**

****Same guy who introduced Dabi and Toga to Shigaraki and Kurogiri**

*****Headcanon where Bakugou calls anyone he doesn't know and happens to be shorter than him "kid"**

_**Question of the chapter: What nickname do you think Bakugou would give to Teruki?**_


End file.
